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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28818657">Making Thoughts Known</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/SailorCresselia/pseuds/SailorCresselia'>SailorCresselia</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Riders ReUnited [9]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Kamen Rider Ghost</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Canon-Typical Violence, Gen, Post-Canon</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-01-17</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-04-20</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-13 11:35:37</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>7,207</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28818657</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/SailorCresselia/pseuds/SailorCresselia</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>It’s not that Takeru’s afraid of letting anyone know what’s going on. He’s not! It’s just that he can’t bring himself to tell them, because his problems have created so much tension in everyone’s lives in the past. </p><p>So, he doesn’t say anything.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Riders ReUnited [9]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1161704</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>15</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>28</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Chapter 1</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Tenkuji Takeru is alive – and he is so, so grateful for that.</p><p>He had died – on his birthday, talk about irony – and then he had died three more times while trying to come back to life.</p><p>But he made it – one hundred and ninety-eight days later, at the very last minute. He had given up his chance, on that last day, so that everyone who had died during that last battle could come back, because that was more than fair, they had never asked to be involved and it would have been selfish to spend a wish on himself when he could save so many others. The Great Eye threw his revival in – he really and truly had not expected that. Maybe he should have – there was precedent, after all. It had revived the greatest foes of some of his predecessors just to have a set of powers available for later.</p><p>He had died, and then died even more times before coming back to life, but he’s alive now, and that’s what matters.</p><p>Although… there might be a few… residual side effects from his time as a ghost.</p><p>Ever since he was eight, ever since his father died, Takeru had always had the urge to help. That feeling of “go and help them, they’re in trouble, go help.” That has been there for ten and a half years, and it is part of who he is, and it isn’t going away.</p><p>Being able to help, having the strength and ability to help people through so many different problems now… that’s a blessing in and of itself. He can help, and whenever he can, he will.</p><p>It does prove problematic with regards to his new pain tolerance.</p><p>Namely, how messed up it is.</p><p>In fairness, taking damage couldn’t kill him while he was dead. So, yeah, he got used to taking hits that if he were corporeal, would definitely have destroyed him. (Being slammed through walls. Electrocution. Dropping a city on himself. Entering the upper atmosphere. All that just as he was starting out, before being dead was a normal fact of life.) He took so many risks, and they were all worth it to save everyone that he did.</p><p>And each and every hit hurt, still, even with the armor and powers, even though he was a ghost. Each and every hit still <em>hurt</em>. So he learned to tune it out – he had to, if he was going to continue. First the severe blows, the ones that would have crippled him at <em>minimum</em>, or more likely would have killed him if he weren’t already dead. Those <em>had</em> to go. Then the larger blows, that should have left him reeling in pain. They didn’t help, and he didn’t need to really worry about staying injured, so it was fine. Eventually he became more-or-less numb to even the smaller amounts of pain.</p><p>Now that he’s alive, well… Normal, every-day injuries don’t really register as much, not in the right ways. It’s not like he’s the only one, though! Alain’s senses are too active, because being flesh and blood is still new to him. Makoto varies between ‘too much’ and ‘not enough’, because while he spent years as an Eyecon, which made him lose some of his edge to sensation, he also has a habit of ignoring how heavily injured he may or may not be.</p><p>So Takeru’s not alone.</p><p>He <em>is</em>, however, the worst offender.</p><p>So, when they’re having a cookout, he gets caught up in chopping wood for the campfire. And doesn’t notice for a half an hour that his hands are raw and bleeding from not wearing gloves. The antiseptic Onari uses as he’s bandaging them stings more than the cuts did.</p><p>His resistance to pain is even higher when he’s suited up, and that’s true for Makoto and Alain too. (The two of them were projections from eyecons for much longer than he was, and have been dealing with a lot of the same adjustments.) And all three of them are still Kamen Riders, can still transform, are still Ghost and Spectre and Necrom, and they still have to fight sometimes.</p><p>When he was dead he could levitate as a Rider, and that hasn’t changed, even though he’s in his own body now. He lands wrong in a fight and keeps fighting. He can’t balance properly on his feet, so he switches fighting styles and floats until the enemy goes down. Takeru drops his transformation and goes back to normal – and lands on the ankle he twisted.</p><p>Akari was pissed at him. She lectured him, while stomping around the library/lab/makeshift med-bay. Makoto wrapped his ankle, giving the both of them judgmental looks before telling Akari to “Quit pacing, already. Neither of us can stop watching you, and you’re making this a lot harder.”</p><p>Well, maybe the looks Makoto was shooting at them were less judgmental and more concerned. But it’s not like he has any room to talk. He was running off to fight his doppelgangers constantly as the conflict escalated, and he was completely physical at the time.</p><p>At least when Takeru screws up, he does it in plain sight. So, really, Makoto doesn’t have a leg to stand on.</p><p>Heh. “Leg to stand on.” Pun totally unintended, but also totally appropriate, and definitely not to be said out loud right now. Or probably ever. …Okay, maybe keep it in reserve for a better time, but not right now.</p><p>Still, though. Accidental injuries aside, Takeru is… working on it. He’ll be fine, he just needs get used to a new baseline for fighting. Just needs to re-learn how to tell when he needs to stop fighting and fall back.</p>
<hr/><p>All told, Akari and Onari are completely justified in frequently reminding him that he has an actual body now.</p><p>But to be fair, falling back was not an option.</p><p>Not when they were the only two Riders available to fight.</p><p>Not when two of his best friends have already been left unconscious in a hospital.</p><p>(When none of them have really learned how not to overdo it yet.)</p><p>Not when it’s really, truly life or death.</p><p>He can’t retreat.</p><p>Not when he’s fighting for Akari’s life.</p><p>So.</p><p>As he gets thrown through walls, he gets back up.</p><p>When he gets knocked out of his transformation, he goes back into the fight.</p><p>When he gets knocked out of Boost, he goes back in.</p><p>When he gets knocked out of Grateful.</p><p>Out of Infinite.</p><p>He goes in with a brand new form – one that just barely kept him from getting hit, one that is three luminaries in one, one that is based on connections.</p><p>Emu is in danger. And Takeru can’t – won’t – let him die.</p><p>Takeru grabs the madman attacking him.</p><p>And…</p><p>Oh. Oh no.</p><p>It’s been a while since he’s picked up on someone’s memories. Not since he was revived, in fact.</p><p>(In retrospect, that really should have clued him in that something was going very wrong.)</p><p>Even after seeing that, and seeing what this madman is willing to do for revenge, Takeru still fights.</p><p>Even as his overwhelming need to help outweighs the fact that every fiber of his now very mortal body is screaming in pain.</p><p>He has to keep going.</p><p>He’s had worse, after all.</p><p>Right?</p><p>Ghost and Ex-Aid – mostly Ex-Aid, although he doesn’t seem to remember doing it – win the fight, and Takeru is very definitely not going to tell his successor about either of the things he saw in that warehouse.</p><p>They walk out, and honestly? The student who was almost turned into a monster seems to be in better shape right now than either of the people who saved him.</p><p>And there’s all of his friends, and they’re battered but Makoto and Alain are awake and they’re walking and they’re okay. And there’s–</p><p>There’s Akari, she’s alright, they did it, she’s fine, she’s alive and–</p><p>And the next thing Takeru knows he’s on his back, on the ground, his friends tear-stained faces looking down at him.</p><p>Every fiber of his very, very mortal body is screaming in pain, especially his chest, what happ-</p><p>Oh. OH.</p><p>He is in so much trouble.</p>
<hr/><p>…Well, at least this time he’s not the only one getting lectured.</p><p>(Takeru considers making some sort of “small miracles” joke, but this is. Not the time.)</p><p>Everyone is getting several lectures, actually.</p><p>The first comes from one Kagami Hiiro, Kamen Rider Brave. It’s mostly about “knowing your limits” and “know when to withdraw” and things like that.</p><p>That’s fair. Although the impact of this particular lecture is diminished slightly as soon as Hiiro steps out of the three-bed hospital room. He doesn’t even have the chance to fully close the door before he starts receiving the exact same lecture from Taiga – Kamen Rider Snipe.</p><p>And why is it a three-bed room?</p><p>That is part of lecture number two, given by a rather heavily bandaged Doctor Emu.</p><p>Apparently Makoto and Alain had not, in fact, been discharged from the hospital before taking off with everyone else to go find Takeru.</p><p>So, along with another discussion on “not overdoing it,” lecture number two was mostly about what was going to happen for the next few days.</p><p>Makoto and Alain were being kept over the next day for observation. Originally, they were only going to be there overnight, but then they busted themselves out and potentially (probably) aggravated their injuries.</p><p>Takeru, on the other hand, was going to be here for several days, on account of the whole ‘cardiac arrest’ thing.</p><p>Yeah… that makes sense.</p><p>As for them all being in one room, they are also all considered flight risks, and it will be considerably simpler to keep an eye on the three of them if they’re in one place to start with.</p><p>That also make sense, and it’s also a bit of a recurring problem, so it’s fair.</p><p>Granted, Doctor Emu gets pulled right into lecture number three along with Takeru, which comes from Officer Tomari. This one is about asking for help when you need it.</p><p>“There were three veteran riders right outside and we were already done, you kids were in over your head and we could have helped you!”</p><p>(It sounds like he’s blaming himself for how this fight ended, but he really shouldn’t. This was all on Ghost and Ex-Aid. Drive and Gaim and Wizard had no way of knowing what was going on in that warehouse.)</p><p>Doctor Emu tries to point out that Officer Tomari is apparently only two years older than him, and is met with a very stern glare.</p><p>Lecture number three-and-a-half comes the next morning when Officer Tomari returns with a very guilty looking Onari and Akari in tow. That one winds up being more of an interrogation about what exactly happened during that six and a half month period.</p><p>(This man is going to be a great father, if his assorted disappointed, concerned, and proud dad-friend lectures and expressions are anything to go by. Takeru’s starting to think that he was being practiced on last year.)</p><p>Certain things are left out, and thankfully the others pick up on Takeru’s reluctance to touch on certain topics – how he got Infinite, giving up those two chances, his connecting with peoples souls. Makoto and Alain are leaving out things of their own, as well – Makoto’s going against his doppelgangers, and some of the more callous actions Alain took among them.</p><p>But through all of the examinations and lectures and discussions and debriefings… there was no chance to talk to anyone about what Takeru saw in the warehouse.</p><p>And since they left it out of what they told everyone else, there was no good time to tell his friends about the soul-connection ability coming back, either.</p><p>So Takeru just. Doesn’t tell anyone.</p>
<hr/><p>And the real problem with not telling anyone is that it apparently wasn’t a one-off thing.</p><p>There are still occasional fights for Ghost, Specter, and Necrom, and the connections start kicking in for a short time after battles.</p><p>After the times he uses his soul as a suit of armor and as a shield and as a weapon, bringing everything about himself into battle and exposing it-and-him to so much risk.</p><p>(They’d asked how they were still able to transform, shortly after everything else about the Eyecon system shut down and stopped. Edith – the sage and magistrate and conspirator – had absolutely no idea. Well, it’s not like they hadn’t gone off the script of what was supposed to be possible before.)</p><p>For a while, Takeru was only picking up on other’s memories after battle. But then it started happening during battle. And then a few hours before battle actually broke out.</p><p>He started using it as a warning system, and called it ‘intuition’ and ‘just a hunch.’</p><p>And that went okay for a while. Well. For certain definitions of okay.</p><p>Then, one year after death number five and revival number two, another Earth appears in the sky.</p><p>One year of seeing into peoples minds.</p><p>Takeru still hasn’t told anyone.</p>
<hr/><p>It wasn’t their battle – none of their enemies were involved – but they had been there, so they helped. It’s what Kamen Riders do. They – OOO and Fourze and Gaim and Ghost – were stalling for time, so that their successors could take down the two madmen that were trying to become a god.</p><p>So, strictly speaking, Takeru hadn’t needed to go into Infinite. Even Grateful was probably overkill – he could have stopped powering up by the time he used Boost.</p><p>Takeru was showing off, and he knew it. The other veteran Riders were showing off too, and each and every one of them is well aware of that fact.</p><p>They had fought hard to get to where they are now, and showboating… it happens.</p><p>Getting to go all out on a nigh-endless horde of robots was incredibly cathartic, though. Takeru could get his mind off of the past year of seeing into so many other minds.</p><p>Except, uh. It seems that using Infinite again, after so long of not needing to, has resulted in his touch-telepathy-memory-viewing kicking into overdrive.</p><p>It keeps happening, and grows more frequent, and now it has nothing to do with battle or transforming.</p><p>And it’s not something that would never come up in conversation normally, so what’s the point of bringing it up?</p><p>Takeru does not tell anyone.</p>
<hr/><p>
  <em>Summer, 2018.</em>
</p><p>Eventually, at a get together, things get worse. Or, more obviously wrong, anyway.</p><p>Build and Cross-Z – Sento and Ryuuga – are brought to them, by Officer Tomari, no less.</p><p>Kiriya knocks them over, and Takeru goes to help them get up, but doesn’t quite make it.</p><p>When the two newest Riders start summarizing their struggles, it’s so, <em>so</em> hard to listen to.</p><p>Sento is tearing himself to pieces over what happened and he’d… oh, <em>wow</em>, he actually killed someone, that’s- and he thinks that-</p><p>
  <em>‘Sento thinks he should have died as penance.’</em>
</p><p>That’s – <em>no</em>.</p><p>Before he can think better of it, Takeru is halfway across the room.</p><p>“Stop that!”</p><p>The sound of his palm connecting with his successors cheek silences the room.</p><p>     <em>“Gagh!” Arcs of electricity shoot from the driver, dropping Sento to the ground. A rough hand picks it up. “This belt’s bad news, right?”</em></p><p>“How many times? How many more times did you pull things like that?”</p><p>Takeru shakes, and everyone is <em>looking</em> at him now, they <em>have</em> to know something’s up…</p><p>The memory keeps playing as he goes to sit back down.</p><p>     <em>“If you died, it’d make Misora sad. But me?”</em></p><p>“How many times did you try to throw yourselves away?”</p><p>     <em>“Nobody’s gonna care if I live or die.”</em></p><p>“<em>Both</em> of you?”</p><p>Ryuuga starts to list off times Sento tried to ‘leave.’ Times he tried to give everything. But he’s not mentioning whatever happened with that driver. Still hasn’t mentioned how he and Doctor Emu met Eiji – how he was perfectly willing to fall so the senior Rider <em>didn’t</em>. He clearly hasn’t told Sento about that, either.</p><p>“…You’re <em>both</em> idiots.” Ohh, no, now he’s <em>really</em> shaking, someone’s going to realize that he knows more than they do… “You can’t fix anything – can’t help anyone if you’re not around to do it. Just. Stop it.” Something hurts- Ah. His nails are digging into his palms. Whoops. “That’s enough.”</p><p>This is- this is all getting to be too much. “Sorry. I’ll be back in a little. Just need some air.”</p><p>Ryuuga grimaces. “Ah, man, how bad did we just screw up?”</p><p>Takeru shakes his head. “You just hit some sore spots, that’s all.”</p><p>‘<em>A couple more than I can actually say, but there’s enough that people already know…’</em></p><p>“Just give me a few minutes, okay?”</p><p>Partially closing the door behind him, he stops in the hallway, before slowly lowering himself to the floor.</p><p>Takeru still doesn’t tell anyone, but… he can’t keep this up much longer.</p>
<hr/><p>He’s not <em>lying</em> when he says his hand still stings. But that’s because he was clenching his fist so hard last night his nails nearly drew blood. He’s rubbing at it because it’s a dirty rotten <em>traitor</em>. He was supposed to be <em>fine</em> for the next few days, he’d run into someone on the bus up here ‘accidentally’.</p><p>He should have been fine.</p>
<hr/><p>It’s fall 2018, and legally and officially speaking, Takeru is turning 21 soon. Unofficially speaking, they don’t really celebrate his birthday in October anymore. They save it for April – save the celebrations for when he was finally able to truly be “eighteen and one day.”</p><p>Enigma was almost a year ago, and Takeru has been seeing memories again for almost two years. Maybe he should say that it’s still, instead of again. Maybe the months between April and December, back in 2016, were just a temporary lull, and this is here to stay.</p><p>It’s been happening at least once every three days for months now.</p><p>But that’s… that’s not important, there’s things to do!</p><p>The temple is hosting this month’s get-together. Makoto and Alain are here, visiting from over in Alain’s world. They – Makoto, Kanon, and Alain – spend about half their time in either world now, now that it’s going much better over there. Sometimes Alia even joins them when they come over. It’s really nice when everyone from those days can get together – it’s been harder to all hang out as time moves onward.</p><p>The weather is starting to get cold, and since there are more people in the residence part of the temple than usual, Takeru’s had to set up some space heaters around the various rooms.</p><p>And yes, those are still kicking in, but this is. This is just odd.</p><p>“Would you two like some blankets, or something? It’s really no problem for me to go get some.”</p><p>Sento shakes his head. “No, that’s okay. We’re set.”</p><p>To be blunt, this is one of the oddest things Takeru has ever seen. And he had Yurusen floating around the house for the better part of six months. She’s still here, actually, just furrier and not nearly as able to communicate with them. Even after Edith had moved back to the Ganma realm, once they had fixed the atmosphere, Yurusen refused to go with him. Everyone’s pretty sure she’s still giving them grief constantly, but since she’s a cat again and no longer speaking Japanese, they can’t tell what she’s saying.</p><p>Ryuuga is wearing a t-shirt, and looks perfectly fine with the temperature. He also has the single most put-upon, long-suffering, and ‘secretly’ affectionate expression. The reason why is pretty clear.</p><p>Sento is apparently far less okay with the cold in general. His heavy tan coat is draped over one half of his body, and the rest of him is sitting next to Ryuuga as close as he can without straight-up clinging to him like a koala.</p><p>It’s… to be honest, it’s kind of adorable. Takeru makes a mental note to see if he can move up his date in the pool for when those two officially become a couple. (The furthest out anyone has is February. A lot of people think they already are together, but haven’t announced it yet. He didn’t think they were yet, but seeing this? Takeru’s reconsidering it.)</p><p>It’s adorable, but it also raises a whole different set of questions.</p><p>“Any chance you guys could elaborate?” Makoto chuckles from where he’s reading.</p><p>“He makes a good personal heater.” Sento says, an expression of near-bliss on his face.</p><p>Ryuuga sighs. “I run really warm.” He curls the arm that’s not currently being held captive. “Wanna see?”</p><p>It’s fine. It’s probably fine. He’s careful before getting together with other Riders. He’d made sure to ‘read’ someone ‘normal’ today, by ‘accidentally’ bumping into a store clerk. That should take care of it for the next day or two. Right? Right.</p><p>He puts a hand on Ryuuga’s offered bicep.</p><p>     <em>A tower over a burning red landscape. A city is dissolving as someone laughs – it sounds like it’s whoever’s memory this is but it’s definitely not Ryuuga, so who is that?</em></p><p>“What is that what happened why-”</p><p>“-eru? Takeru!”</p><p>Something hits the back of Takeru’s shins. He blinks, and realizes he’s backed up into the kotatsu, and has also started crying. Also, that he’d been speaking out loud. Makoto had called out to him to snap him out of it.</p><p>“Oh, come on, I don’t run that hot!”</p><p>“No, it’s, uh, I have to, uh, I’ll be back,” Takeru stammers, before turning and running.</p><p>Makoto yells after him as he retreats.</p><p>“Takeru!!”</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Chapter 2</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>He goes to the basement, huddling in the corner of the nook under the library they keep down there.</p><p>Parts of Akari’s mini-lab are still down there – and luckily she’s not here today. She said something about having the chance to go to a conference, so at least Takeru won’t be facing one of her lectures today. Same with Onari, who’s at a retreat. </p><p><em>Makoto</em>, however… Makoto is standing at the top of the basement stairs.</p><p>“How long?”</p><p>“Don’t know what you’re talking about.” Takeru doesn’t look up – doesn’t want to see whatever expression Makoto’s giving him.</p><p>“I think you do. How long have you been seeing memories again?”</p><p>“…This is the first time?” His voice raises at the end.</p><p>‘<em>Please stop digging, Makoto, please don’t make me go into this.’</em></p><p>“Tenkuji Takeru, you are one of the worst liars I know. I’m including Onari in that.”</p><p>Takeru sneaks a look out of the corner of his eye. Makoto has that judging-slash-concerned look going again. Takeru still gets that one a lot. <em>‘Drat.’</em></p><p>“Now, then.” Makoto sits down across from him. “How. Long.”</p><p>“Since Pac-man.” Takeru mutters. “Got worse after Enigma.”</p><p>“Since Pa- Takeru! What the – That was two years ago!” Makoto sputters. “Why didn’t – you should have <em>said</em> something!”</p><p>“There wasn’t a good time.”</p><p>“For two years?!”</p><p>“We were busy.”</p><p>Takeru doesn’t look up as Makoto leans back against the wall, groaning. “They’re all worried about you, you know.”</p><p>“Hm? Who?”</p><p>“Everyone upstairs. Alain’s giving an abbreviated description of your memory-connection… ability, partly to stall them from trying to find you.”</p><p>“‘s not their fault. It’s mine.”</p><p>“Well, Ryuuga thought he did something wrong, since you freaked out. Hence, Alain explaining. Also, uh.” Makoto laughs nervously. “We’re all probably going to be getting another Talk from Emu and Shinnosuke over not telling them this was a thing in the first place.”</p><p>“Uuugh. How long can we keep the two of them from finding out?”</p><p>“Shotaro was already pulling out his phone when you bolted.”</p><p>Takeru tilts his head back, groaning. “Which means they’ll probably have noticed that I’ve… kinda been avoiding Philip since we met.”</p><p>Makoto huffs. “That <em>does</em> make sense now. As soon as he told us his backstory, you backed off.”</p><p>“I didn’t want to risk getting trapped. I mean, Demia almost pulled me in, and that was just <em>people</em>. I’m… worried about what might happen if I somehow connected to the literal planet, instead of Philip.”</p><p>“I can’t say that I blame you there. I’m impressed that he’s able to handle it, and while you’re strong… that would be a lot to take in.” Makoto shakes his head. “I assume that you’re going to want to stay down here for a while?”</p><p>“At least for a little longer, yeah. It’s… it’s bad enough that you guys’ve found out about all of… this.” He makes a vague gesture towards his head. “But what I picked up… wasn’t great.”</p><p>“Hence the breakdown?” Takeru nods, to which Makoto sighs. “Alright, I’ve got an idea. Give me a moment.” Makoto climbs to the upper section of the library, his footsteps clanging on the grate. When he comes back down, he shoves something into Takeru’s face. “Here.”</p><p>“Gah, hey!” Takeru sputters, pushing the intruding object away. “…Really? The Yurusen doll?”</p><p>“Well, it was down here, and if you’re not ready to talk to someone who can <em>reply</em>, then ‘she’ll’ have to do.” Makoto rubs the back of his neck. “Not like you’d be the only one to have come down here for a sounding board when you’re stressed.”</p><p>Takeru raises an eyebrow, a small grin on his face.</p><p>“Don’t give me that, Kanon’s the one who originally gave me the idea. It helps. …Besides, the <em>real</em> one’s not an option, I think she’s probably holding Ryuuga hostage right now. I saw her entering the room when I went after you.”</p><p>“The cat whisperer is dead. Long live the cat whisperer.” Laughing dryly, Takeru continues. “Kanon suggested it to me and Akari, too. Just didn’t think you’d have taken her up on the surrogate cat-ghost concept.” He sighs. “Can you give me some time to plan out what to say to people? At least before anyone else comes to talk.”</p><p>“No problem. Any preference for who interrogates you next?”</p><p>“Hm. Probably Sento and Ryuuga would be best. I’m not entirely sure <em>what</em> it actually was I saw, so they’d be best.”</p><p>“Got it. Just keep in mind-” Takeru shoots Makoto a dirty look. “Okay, bad choice of words, sorry. Remember, we’re both going to have to come clean about a lot of things at this point, so once he gets here, we’re facing Emu again.”</p><p>Takeru sighs again. “Just as well. Started up when we met him, after all.”</p><p>“The first time was Emu?”</p><p>“In a manner of speaking.”</p><p>“Oh boy.”</p>
<hr/><p>“Hey kid. You okay?”</p><p>Takeru looks up at Ryuuga. “I’m almost 21, you know, I’m not a kid.”</p><p>“I thought you said you weren’t counting it until next year?” Sento quips. “You can’t have it both ways.”</p><p>“Yes, I can, shut up.”</p><p>“Yeah, yeah, sure.” Ryuuga plunks himself down on the center steps, hanging his legs over the side. “So. We heard ya read minds?”</p><p>Groaning, Takeru shakes his head. “What? No, what did Alain <em>say</em> up there? No, it’s…” he frowns, trying to choose his words. “When everything was happening, I kinda got the ability ‘connect’ to other people’s souls? It kinda just… happens, at random, when I touch someone, and I get a flash of their memories. After a while it didn’t even require the contact part, and that was a problem, but I got <em>some</em> control over it, so I was coping. The whole thing stopped when I came back, at first, but… it started back up around the point I met Emu-sensei, and now it just <em>keeps happening</em>. And, I make sure I try to pick up something from someone <em>normal</em> before these meetups, so that it doesn’t happen as frequently with any of us. But that’s clearly not going to be enough anymore, because I got something from high school from the clerk at the store this morning, so I <em>shouldn’t</em> have been able to see <em>whatever</em> that was-” Takeru cuts himself off, coughing from speaking too fast for too long.</p><p>“That is one of <em>the</em> worst side effects I have ever heard of.” Ryuuga stares. “Hate to ask, but ah, any idea what I showed ya?”</p><p>“Something with a tower and a black hole or something…”</p><p>Ryuuga lets his head hit the railing. “Aw, hell.”</p><p>Sento winces. “What color was the, er, general area?”</p><p>“Red. It kind of looked like Alain’s world used to. So, it kind of looked like actual Hell.”</p><p>“I’m <em>so</em> sorry. That’s… not Hell.” Ryuuga clunks his head on the railing again. “That was Mars. Literally the destruction of the planet Mars.’</p><p>“Oh, no, sto- stop hitting your head like that! Why would you remember something on <em>Mars</em>?”</p><p>Flumping forward over the handrail, Ryuuga groans. “‘s not even technically <em>my</em> memory. Stupid space bull-”</p><p>“That’s, uh, not the <em>only</em> thing from you guys I’ve ‘seen’.” Takeru interrupts. “You know that time I snapped at you guys…?”</p><p>“Vividly.” Rubbing at his cheek, Sento sighs. “Which means you got something from <em>me</em>. Was it at least <em>this</em> me, and not the other guy?”</p><p>Reluctantly, Takeru nods. “It was… not great. Ryuuga picked up a driver that… I think you hadn’t been able to use? And… well, given what he said, there’s a <em>reason</em> I asked <em>both</em> of you how many times you got self-sacrificial.”</p><p>“Sento has <em>already</em> chewed me out for saying that stuff, as did everyone else we were with at the time, so could we not right now?” Ryuuga mutters. “I know it’s not gonna be dropped for <em>long</em>, but ‘s way easier to keep it to one group’s issues at a time.”</p><p>“Yeah. I’ll keep it under wraps for now. We… ought to head up at this point, huh? Any idea who Shotaro was able to get a hold of?”</p><p>Sento nods. “Shinnosuke’s got some big case going on, so he’s not coming.” Takeru breathes a sigh of relief as Sento continues. “Sounded like <em>Gou</em> might be in for it, though. Kiriko’s the one who answered the phone, and told us to call her if we see him, and also that if he shows up here, we can’t let him or anyone he’s with leave.</p><p>“He <em>did</em> get a hold of Emu and Parad, though. Emu sounded <em>really</em> worried, so I think they’re taking a shortcut to get here faster.”</p><p>Takeru shakes his head. “Time to face the music, then.” Getting to his feet, he grips the Yurusen plush. “Great.”</p>
<hr/><p>A bit of time passes. The group agrees to wait until Emu arrives to go into any more detail, to keep Takeru from having to repeat everything excessively.</p><p>Eventually, Emu and Parad arrive, both with a lingering confused look. Emu’s shifts to a stern sort of concern as soon as he sees Takeru. “Sorry that we’re late. There were some… complications at work. So, what’s this I hear about some kind of telepathy?”</p><p>“We’re getting right to the point, then. Look. I was able to see memories after I was killed. It stopped when I came back to life. At least, it stopped up until we met.”</p><p>Emu’s face softens from the stern expression it had before. “After the fight?”</p><p>“…No.” Takeru looks down, decidedly avoiding meeting anyone’s eyes, but especially Emu’s. “…Look, this is going to be really awkward for everyone here no matter how this goes. If I don’t want to leave anything out, I need to know what <em>you</em> remember happening, because we were the only two people there, and a lot went on.”</p><p>“Hmm…” Emu considers this. “Well, the bugster-”</p><p>“Hatena.” Parad supplies. “I looked into it before I split from Genm the first time around, his name was Hatena.”</p><p>“Really? Thanks. Hatena focused on you, and Zaizen went after me. We… uh, we didn’t really do so well in there, did we? Both of us went flying a <em>lot</em>. I vaguely remember that you got thrown through a wall at some point?”</p><p>Takeru grimaces, nodding. “Several walls, actually. At least I was still transformed for most of them.”</p><p>Reluctantly, Emu nods in agreement. “Touché. Pretty sure a good number of the hits I took were without armor.” Parad gives him an unimpressed look, as several other people in the room make concerned sounds. “Don’t give me that, I’d only gotten Gekitotsu Robots for an upgrade at that point! Anyway, you kept powering up, but from what I saw, none of your finishers seemed to land.”</p><p>Uncomfortable, Takeru grimaces. “Well, they <em>did</em> land, technically, just. Not on the intended target. They… kind of got reflected back…”</p><p>“Well <em>that</em> explains a lot!” Alain exclaims, throwing his hands in the air. “No <em>wonder</em> you started counting Argos twice! How many times have you been hit with your Infinite finisher?”</p><p>“I mean, <em>technically speaking</em> just the once? The first time didn’t quite count as <em>me</em> anymore, but since I, you know, faded as a result of both Argos’s <em>and</em> my actions, counting it as two just seemed to make sense.”</p><p>Alain starts to protest, but then seems to think better of it. “I acknowledge both of my brothers made terrible life choices, but we’re coming back to this later.”</p><p>Everyone watches the exchange uncomfortably. “<em>Anyway</em>.” Emu interjects. “As far as I recall, you got some sort of gold armor, grabbed Zaizen after he threw me across the warehouse yet again…” Emu looks up, biting his lip guiltily. “Aaaand then, next thing I remember after that is you telling me I saved Tougo.”</p><p>“Oh, <em>great</em>. I was pretty sure that was the case. That’s just wonderful.”</p><p>“Takeru, this has actually been bugging me for a while now, but…” Emu massages his forehead. “With everything that happened right afterward, we wound up so distracted that I didn’t think to ask.” Glancing worriedly around the very quiet room, he takes a deep breath. “What did I <em>do</em> in there?”</p><p>“Okay, you know how he was going on about payback?”</p><p>“Kind of? I <em>do</em> remember him going on about revenge against humanity before he showed his actual face, at least, and how he was singling me out.” Emu sighs. “I found out a <em>lot</em> later that was because of my role in how the Bugster Virus came about, and his own involvement in kicking that off.”</p><p>“It was… definitely because of that. <em>That</em> is what I saw – the day he died.”</p><p>“Oh, <em>no</em>.” Parad blanches. “That explains why you were so jumpy around me when we finally met.”</p><p>Emu nods slowly. “So, you put it together from seeing me there?”</p><p>“Only a little.” Swallowing, Takeru shakes his head. “After I saw that, he <em>said</em> that he was trying to get revenge specifically on you. You were… well, you were very much still awake at that point.”</p><p>Wincing, Emu shudders. “Oh. It’s probably not going out on a limb to say that I took it poorly?”</p><p>“Not as poorly as when he shoved both <em>your</em> main gashat and the <em>prototype </em>of it into your driver.”</p><p>Emu and Parad both freeze. </p><p>Philip speaks up. “You’ve mentioned that the prototypes are… more than a little dangerous, even to Riders.”</p><p>Parad nods in reply. “They’re dangerous for both humans <em>and</em> bugsters. Kiriya’s only able to use his because he’s got two levels of filter protecting him, by being a bugster <em>and</em> using a driver. I’ve <em>never</em> heard of someone using a prototype <em>and</em> a regular version, let alone two of the same game at once.” He looks at Emu, who’s still not moving. “Emu? You okay?”</p><p>“…As I can be. Takeru, please keep going.”</p><p>Hesitantly, Takeru describes what the gashats did to Emu, what he could see of what <em>Emu</em> did to the <em>gashats</em>, the fight that followed, and how it could barely be called a fight.</p><p>The room is silent as he talks. “So… yeah. You went back to normal, we left, and… well, everyone knows what happened after that, by now.” He looks down. “I should have said something back then, I should have told you what happened, but you reacted so… <em>violently</em> during the fight, I didn’t want to make you upset. After that I just… was too afraid of admitting anything was going on with <em>me</em> to bring anything up. I’m sorry…”</p><p>Emu rapidly shakes his head. “No, you – you had the right idea. I wouldn’t have been able to handle knowing any of that for a long time. <em>I</em> want to apologize for not asking if anything was wrong after the fact.”</p><p>Takeru spreads his hands defensively. “What? No! I know that I <em>should</em> have told someone I was picking up memories again, but I couldn’t find a way to time it correctly, and then I didn’t want people to get upset that I’d been hiding things, and-”</p><p>“And it’s the sunk cost fallacy, right?” Sento pipes up. “You’d already put so much effort into getting used to your situation and into hiding it that it was just ‘easier’ to keep going the way you had been.”</p><p>Nodding in gratitude, Takeru chuckles nervously. “Yeah, pretty much. That’s something I think <em>all</em> of us know a few things about.”</p><p>“Because you’ve seen it?”</p><p>Shotaro scoffs at the suggestion. “I’m more willing to guess it’s because we’re <em>us</em>, we’re Kamen Riders.” He smirks, with a self-deprecating edge to it. “We put more emphasis on protecting other people than ourselves. It’s been that way for years.”</p><p>Takeru laughs quietly. “Yeah, it really has been. …Come to think of it, I should probably tell you guys what happened with Hongo-san. I know we’d agreed on letting each rider tell their own stories when we got them into Reunited, but this is something he might not admit to if we ever get in contact with him.”</p>
<hr/><p>Shotaro sighs heavily after Takeru explains what happened when he had his first encounter with Shocker. “I had <em>wondered</em> what happened to the power that day, but <em>this</em>… I’d like to make the request to join you in calling Hongo out on his hypocrisy next time we see him.”</p><p>“Because of the Badan fight in 2014, right? That’s <em>more</em> than fair.” Takeru grins, before his shoulders droop as he sighs. “So, is there anything else that I have to say, or can I go have a small emotional breakdown in private?”</p><p>“Well…” Emu rubs the back of his neck. “No offense, but we should probably work out a system for what happens when you see things. It’s clearly been bothering you more and more, to say nothing of how it <em>is</em> an invasion of privacy, no matter how unintentional.”</p><p>Makoto makes a small sound of agreement. “Before, the flashes usually weren’t very long, right?” At Takeru’s nod, he continues. “So it’s usually not <em>too</em> much information, but between how many detectives, cops, and doctors are Riders…”</p><p>Takeru grimaces. “That’s been worrying me, too. I haven’t picked up on any private or confidential information, for the record, but it <em>is</em> a possibility. I think…” He pauses. “I promise that I’ll say if I do, as soon as it’s safe to. But for other times I see things… I don’t know.”</p><p>Parad frowns. “They’re your powers. We can <em>suggest</em> things, but in the end, since you know the most about the way they work, how you handle this should probably be up to you.” </p><p>When Takeru doesn’t respond, Ryuuga speaks up. “Important stuff like fights and stuff that’s, you know, like what you got off of me and Sento, those probably ought to be in the ‘tell the person as soon as you can’ category, too. But you’re a smart guy, you can probably just, like, judge it.”</p><p>“I know, but-”</p><p>“Takeru. I, for one, am absolutely willing to trust your judgement.” Emu gives him a small smile. “If you have trouble, we can work out more ideas. Okay?”</p><p>Looking around the room, Takeru sees that everyone is giving him similar expressions of agreement and reassurance. </p><p>He really needs to stop being so worried about letting people down by telling them about problems, huh? They’re his <em>friends</em>. Not only are they not upset, they’re offering <em>help</em> and <em>support</em>. </p><p>It’s just like what they told Sento and Ryuuga the other month, and what his team told him ages ago… he doesn’t have to carry his burdens on his own.</p><p>“Okay.”</p>
<hr/><p>The day continues without further incident. Well, for the most part.</p><p>At one point, Philip looks up from whatever he was researching. “I thought of a caveat.”</p><p>“Huh?”</p><p>“On your psychic powers. If I’m not allowed to use the Gaia Library to get an advantage in the betting pools, you shouldn’t get to, either.”</p><p>Takeru laughs. “Trust me, I haven’t been. That one should go in the betting pool rules for <em>anyone</em> who gets mind reading powers and the like, I think.”</p><p>Snickering, Parad pulls out his phone and starts typing. “I’ll let Kiriya know to write it in.”</p>
<hr/><p>As everyone is starting to leave, Takeru stops Emu on his way out. “Thank you for… understanding. I’m really sorry that it took this long to tell you about…” he trails off.</p><p>“You really <em>did</em> make the right call, Takeru.” Emu’s smile is a little sad. “It sounds like me blocking it out at the time was probably for the best. I couldn’t cope when I found out about the Patient Zero thing later, and I wasn’t in the middle of a very one-sided fight that time.”</p><p>“Still…”</p><p>“It’s <em>okay</em>. You meant well, and nobody has been seriously hurt by you keeping secrets, except for <em>you</em>.” </p><p>Hesitating for a moment, Takeru nods. “Okay. I’ll do better about the ‘coming clean’ thing, too, I promise.” He grins, and suddenly frowns, remembering something. “You mentioned ‘complications’ when you got here. Is everything going okay at the hospital? Should you have even come today?”</p><p>Emu looks over his shoulder at Parad, the two of them seeming to share some sort of conversation before Emu slowly answers. “That’s a good question. I don’t really have an answer. Not because it’s confidential, but because I don’t… know.”</p><p>He frowns at his phone. “I was actually going to call out, because of an ongoing situation but… then I was told that it would be taken care of ‘like it never happened’, and that <em>this</em> was where I needed to be. That part, at least, was true…”</p><p>Makoto notices his hesitation, same as Takeru, and beats him to the punch at responding. “Who told you all of that?”</p><p>“I can’t say.” Shaking his head, Emu sighs. “Anyway. Today was worth it. See you guys around?”</p><p>Takeru nods. “See you around.”</p>
<hr/><p>When Onari comes home the next day, he, unsurprisingly, starts crying for a little while about not having noticed Takeru was struggling. And, just as unsurprisingly, he quickly stops.</p><p>“Master Takeru…” Onari begins, a grin spreading on his face. “You do know what’s coming next, do you not?”</p><p>Oh, he knows. Oh, <em>boy</em>, does he know. “Onari, do you <em>really</em> think I <em>haven’t</em> been trying to train to get better control?”</p><p>“There’s no better time to start again than the present!” Onari beams. “And, should we train together, perhaps you might regain some <em>other</em> abilities you once had!”</p><p>Chuckling, Takeru shrugs a little. “You’re probably right. Getting those barriers back would be nice, for a start.”</p><p>“Then we shall begin anew, once again.”</p><p>With a decisive nod, Takeru smiles. “Right!”</p>
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